The Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA) offers financial assistance to veterans who are facing an unexpected financial hardship. The Veterans Temporary Assistance (VTA) program provides eligible Pennsylvania veterans and their surviving dependents with financial relief for necessities of life such as food, shelter, fuel, and clothing. Since the inception of the VTA, DMVA has awarded more than $8.6 million to assist over 9,650 service members, veterans, and their families with emergent financial needs.

Eligible veterans or their survivors may qualify for up to $1,600 in a 12-month period. To be eligible, a veteran must have served a period of active duty in the armed forces of the United States and received a discharge under conditions other than dishonorable. A veteran who experienced a service-connected disability, regardless of the length or status of his or her service, is also eligible, as are the surviving dependents of an eligible veteran and the surviving dependents of a service member who died in the line of duty or was killed in action.

For more information, visit http://www.pa.gov/agencies/dmva/pennsylvania-veterans/pa-vetconnect/state-veterans-programs and click on "Veterans' Temporary Assistance." To apply, eligible veterans should contact the County Veterans Affairs Directors in the county in which they reside; contact information may be obtained at the aforementioned website.

To learn more about the DMVA, visit http://www.dmva.pa.gov, http://www.facebook.com/padmva, http://www.instagram.com/pa.dmva, http://www.linkedin.com/company/padmva/, or http://www.x.com/padmva.